2 Portions
Easy
5-10 minutes
30-35 minutes
I love pumpkins. I grew up eating them on every season. They are a big part of Chilean food. We use them for soups, main dishes but also for some desserts. Austrians are big pumpkin lovers too. Even there are many types of pumpkins here and that they all taste slightly different than the Chilean ones I was used to eat, I still think this recipe can be prepared with any kind of pumpkin you have. The salad is very fresh and healthy and the cheese just gives this extra yummy taste to the dish. We like to add some honey at the end just to give it an extra taste, but that’s totally optional. Also, this recipe can easily be vegan if you use any kind of plant-based cheese that can easily melt.
Ingredients
For the roasted pumpkin:
- 300 g pumpkin (in slices)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fine herbs
For the cheese:
- 1 Camembert 100-150 g approx. (or any cheese that you like that can easily melt)
- * If you wish, you can serve the cheese and pumpkin with a tsp of honey.
For the Quinoa salad:
- 150 g quinoa
- 450 ml water approx.
- 1/2 tsp salt
Dressing:
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- A drop of olive oil and lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Fresh parsley
Instructions
For the salad:
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Wash the quinoa with hot water with the help of a sieve.
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Boil the water. Cook the quinoa with the hot water and salt for approx. 15 minutes on a low temperature with the lid on.
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Let it cool down.
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Once it’s cold, add the dressing: balsamico, olive oil, salt, lemon juice and chopped fresh parsley.
For the pumpkin:
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Wash and cut the pumpkin (I used a crookneck pumpkin you can eat the skin of that pumpkin, but you can peel it if you want).
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I usually cook the pumpkin in two different ways: grilled on a grill pan or roasted in the oven. On this recipe I chose the grill pan, but you can decide wish version to try. Both ways the pumpkin tastes delicious.
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*If you choose the oven: preheat the oven at 200°C. Put the pumpkin with olive oil, salt and fine herbs on a baking paper. Cook the pumpkin for 10 minutes, turn the pieces and put a bit more of oil, salt and herbs. Let it cook for another 10 minutes approx. Poke the pumpkin with a fork, if it’s soft inside, it’s ready.
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*If you choose the non-stick grill pan version: heat your pan on a medium-hot temperature. Add the pumpkin with oil, salt and fine herbs. Cook the pumpkin on a low temperature for some minutes and then turn the pieces. Cook the pumpkin for approx. 15-20 minutes in total. Poke the pumpkin with a fork, it should be soft inside.
For the cheese:
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Once your salad it’s ready, and your pumpkin it’s either in the oven or the grill pan for already 10 minutes approx., it’s time to add the cheese.
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It depends on the cheese you choose how fast it’s going to melt. If you choose the Camembert, it will take between 5-10 minutes to melt.
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Cook the cheese on a low temperature and turn it from time to time.
Serve the pumpkin pieces together with the quinoa salad (add some extra parsley if you want) and half of the cheese on each plate. If you wish, add 1 tsp of honey over the pumpkin and cheese.